I love good tools!

I've recently been revamping my plane complement.

I have become a bevel-up Zealot! Many of my standard Stanley style planes have been you know what bay'd for fresh cash for bevel ups. This all grew out of my obtaining a second Veritas low angle block, with optional 38 and 50 degree irons and the ball and tail kit, creating a bevel-up #3 smoother.

Why do I like bevel up planes? I keep all of the planes set up with a stock iron, and keep a sharp 25, 38, and 50 degree iron in a leather pouch. Since all of my Veritas bevel-up bench planes use the same irons, I can totally revamp a plane, with a blade from a single wallet, in 15 seconds! I have a second wallet for the block plane irons.

Swap the blade, set the side stops, and instantly adjust the throat opening! Awesome results! Put it back to the "default" in only 15 seconds more! After messing with cutting angles, chip breaker settings and frog settings, I now know why so many woodworkers keep so many bevel down planes around, all set up and ready to for specialty functions.

Tonight, I set up a new BU #7 jointer and #5 jack. The things cut like butter out of the box, and even better with a 4000/8000 touch!

Why do I need my bevel down planes? Anyone care to comment?

Reply to
Bonehenge (B A R R Y)
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They're harder to camber (if you go for cambered irons), and due to the lack of chipbreaker they don't spit shavings out quite as easily, especially on the smooth planes.

However, I think I've pretty much decided that I'll be getting the jointer and smoother to match my jack.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

I can see that.

I haven't seen evidence to support that in my use. So far, I find that my BU smoother jams up less than my LN chip breaker equipped Stanley, and my Veritas #4-1/2 bevel down plane. I figured this was because there is so much room around the blade.

Reply to
B A R R Y

Actually, they don't need a camber as such. You can achieve the same effect by honing a small radius on the corners of the iron. It takes about 5 minutes and you can smooth with no tracks. My LN 4 1/2 is cambered, so I know what the purpose is.

Place a 3/4" thick board next to a stone that is vertical on its side. Place the iron on the board with the corner of the bevel against the stone and about 5 or 6 swipes per corner will do the job. I did this on my Veritas BU jack 38 degree iron. I didn't corner the 25 nor the 50 degree irons. The BU jack will smooth as good as the 4 1/2 and it does a fairly good job of jointing. I have produced rub glue joints with it. :-)

Reply to
Lowell Holmes

Chris Friesen wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Yep, Chris is right... A cambered iron was traditionally standard practice. And in my opinion, is crucial to accurate plane work.

- jbd

Reply to
jbd in Denver

Not quite the same effect.

There is a school of thought (David Charlesworth, Chris Schwarz, etc.) that uses cambered irons when edge-jointing, so that you can use the position of the plane on the board to control how much material is being removed on each side. You can't do this with radiused irons. (That said, I currently use a radiused iron on my BU jack.)

Also, I'm told that if you want to set up the jack for heavy stock removal, a blade with radiused edges will be harder to push than a cambered blade would be since it's removing more material. I haven't tried this myself, but it makes some sense.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

I have cambered irons on my bedrocks and my LN 4 1/2, so I know what the camber does for you. My bedrock collection includes a 604, 605, and a 607. I also have a nice 5 1/2 Bailey that doesn't get used much these days.

The radius on the corners allows you to smooth with the BU plane.

It does not have the same effect as the camber on the 607 for planing a square edge. The BU jack plane does a better job on squaring a board. It also does a great job when flattening a board.

I stand by my previous post. :-)

Reply to
Lowell Holmes

This is exactly what I do, as I haven't gotten good at cambering.

Reply to
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